Form and Texture

Last of all, we examine the form and texture – the framework that hold the pieces together and keeps the listener’s interest.

Upon inspection, the forms of both pieces are neither specific nor clear. Nested in blocks of cycles marked off by the sound of resounding gongs, the Gamelan Gong Kebyar can also be said to be unified by the kotekan, its rhythmic patterns. Likewise, Debussy’s second movement of the string quartet has two possible options: it could either be a scherzo or have a general binary form of AB, followed by a short A1, which might be considered a codetta as well.

Finally, a special texture is given to the music of Balinese gamelan: polyphonic stratification, of which there is ‘only one melody, but multiple voices each of which play the melody differently, either in a different rhythm or tempo, with different embellishments and figures, or idiomatically different.’ Compared to the mostly homophonic and occasionally polyphonic texture of Debussy’s String Quartet in G minor, it is clear to see that the traditional Balinese gamelan has had tremendous influence over this particular piece of Debussy’s.